


14 Years

by chocolatebun



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: ...maybe, Multi, and apparently the world, bby hisui is too pure for my heart, hopefully this will heal the pain of S2's ending since its going to be mostly fluff, i really love his and iwa's relationship so this happened, jungle needs more love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6747037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolatebun/pseuds/chocolatebun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwa-san and Nagare's days spent together.</p><p>Chapter 1: A day in the past where Iwa-san decides to teach Nagare to blow bubbles. It does not end well. Sort of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	14 Years

I’ve had this idea half-finished in my drafts for months??? But I just got around to editing and finishing it because of life. Let’s hope the next one doesn’t take as long. All of these chapters are probably going to be revolving around younger Iwa-san and bby Nagare, although chapters in present time with Yukari and Sukuna will probably show up too.

Summary: A day in the past where Iwa-san decides to teach Nagare to blow bubbles. It does not end well. Sort of.

* * *

 

“Iwa-san.” Hearing the soft sound of his name being called, Iwa-san looked up from the sink area from where he was cleaning the dishes left over from lunch. Nagare was suited near the low table sitting primly in his wheelchair, with Kotosaka perched on his shoulder. Both of them were looking at Iwa-san expectantly, but Iwa-san wasn’t following their meaning.

In the time Iwa-san and Nagare had been living together, Iwa-san could normally make a pretty good guess at what Nagare wanted. For someone whose limbs were bound away, Nagare could be expressive when he wanted, from his determined gaze to the tilt of his head as he gestured to whatever it was that had caught his eye. Failing that, Nagare would often just command Kotosaka to bring what he wanted when Iwa-san was indisposed. That had led to some amusing misunderstandings when Nagare and Kotosaka were still adjusting to one another, which Iwa-san solely remembered so he could tease Nagare on occasion.

It had been about a year since the Kagatsu Crater incident and maybe a half since they had moved down here. Underground. For someone who wanted to disappear from the Gold King’s influence, moving literally out of sight had seemed a logical decision. Iwa-san had worried over Nagare as they moved down here though. The ‘secret base’ space was by far big enough if Nagare wanted to get out move around, but Nagare rarely did so, preferring to stay in the living room and focus his attention on the news broadcasts via the electronic devices Iwa-san had installed down here. It did little to assuage Iwa-san’s worry however, after all Nagare should be doing what kids his age did; attend school and afterwards run around with friends and have fun. Nagare seemed too grown up at times, as though what happened at the Kagatsu Crater had caused him to grow up too fast.

“What is it, Nagare? Let me just finish up here,” Iwa-san replied, as he shook off the soapy water before heading over to the two.

“Iwa-san, look.” Nagare gestured towards the low table and Iwa-san obeyed, looking at it. There wasn’t much on the table besides an empty beer can Iwa-san had been drinking from earlier and some cheap magazines meant for kids he had bought at the nearby convenience store. Initially Iwa-san had thought to buy them as a form of entertainment for Nagare, since it couldn’t be healthy for Nagare to be continually staring at computer screens, but when Nagare had instead taken to fascinatingly watch Kotosaka dive-bomb the magazines and start shredding them up with his beak and claws, Iwa-san had given up.

Under some unspoken command by his King, Kotosaka spread his wings and fluttered from Nagare’s shoulder to the table. The bird hopped over to one of the magazines and tugged at it with his beak, before fluttering his wings again this time to fly to Iwa-san shoulder and give him a sharp nudge on the ear.

“Got it, got it Kotosaka, that hurt,” Iwa-san complained, as he lifted the chosen magazine, flipping through it. This one didn’t have much in it for kids actually, mainly advertisements and tips about what adjusting to school life for children. Iwa-san paused at one heavily nibbled page, to look at it more closely. The page was mostly dedicated to a cooking recipe but in the bottom left hand corner were short instructions on games to play for young children; the first one explaining about bubble blowing.

“That is it.” Nagare said, craning his head forward to ensure Iwa-san was looking correctly at the page he wanted. On Iwa-san’s shoulder Kotosaka squawked, flapping his wings. “Iwa-san! Iwa-san! Teach!”

“Eh? You want to do this?” Iwa-san asked, looking back and forth from the magazine to Nagare.

“Yes…”  Nagare said, gazing back at Iwa-san solemnly. Seeing Iwa-san’s bemused look, Nagare slowly explained (as though Nagare was the grown up talking to a child here Iwa-san felt.) “Last Tuesday Iwa-san said it was not healthy for a person's body to be spending too much time utilising electronic gadgets when I was gathering intel. So I chose this.”

Hearing Nagare’s reply, Iwa-san’s mouth twitched. Only Nagare would remember something he had he had talked about randomly and store it away, before bringing it to attention when it was time. And although this was an activity mainly for younger kids, it wasn’t like it was a huge gap between Nagare’s age. Iwa-san vaguely remembered doing the same thing long ago when _he_ was a kid so it should be easy enough to do. Well it wasn’t like Iwa-san didn’t have much to occupy his time now. So if this was what Nagare wanted Iwa-san to do, he would do it.

“Okay Nagare…let me see...” There were only a few ingredients required to make the bubbles, the soap and water being obvious. They had straws, mainly for Nagare’s usage when he wanted juice at meal times. As for corn syrup, that might be a problem. It wasn’t essential...but. He wanted to do the best for Nagare. Iwa-san frowned, thinking.

“Nagareee. We don’t have one of the ingredients so Iwa-san will head out nearby to buy it. In the meantime, stay put okay?”

Nagare nodded, so Iwa-san grinned and leaned forward to ruffle Nagare’s hair before standing up to get ready to go out. “Be careful Iwa-san. Come back soon.” Nagare reminded him as Iwa-san prepared to leave. Iwa-san gave him a cheerful wave as he began walking. He didn’t like leaving Nagare alone by himself even with Kotosaka around, so Iwa-san was glad there were many fast routes that led to convenience stores from the underground passages.

It didn’t take long. Within half an hour Iwa-san was back, cheerfully holding up the shopping bag when he was within Nagare’s sight. “Welcome back, Iwa-san.” Nagare said, blinking his eyes at Iwa-san as he settled down the bags. Kotosaka chirped in unison, welcoming back Iwa-san.

“Nagare. I'm going to lift you out of your chair so you can be comfortable while I prepare the stuff.” Iwa-san jovially said, as he walked over to Nagare.

“Affirmative.” As Nagare spoke the word, an electronic click sounded as Nagare’s wheelchair opened up, allowing Iwa-san to reach forward to pull Nagare up. Iwa-san’s movements were slow and measured, making sure Nagare’s body was securely held.

Settling Nagare down on the tatami, Iwa-san hummed a nameless tune as he brought over a small red bucket used for laundry and added the water, soap and corn syrup respectively in their correct amounts before stirring it, Nagare tucked by his side watching his actions closely. Knowing Nagare would want to understand, Iwa-san explained as he continued stirring. “See Nagare, you mix in the water and the soap first because they’re your basic ingredients. Then you add in just a little bit of corn syrup to thicken the mixture. This ensures the bubble doesn’t pop as fast later on. Pretty simple, isn't it?” Nagare nodded, his eyes serious as though Iwa-san was talking about matters of great importance and not any commonplace matter.

Once he was done, Iwa-san set the bucket closer towards to Nagare, moving behind him. The straws were scattered by their side. Gently, Iwa-san reached out and placed his hand on Nagare’s bound arms letting a trickle of his Grey flow out to Nagare. He unclicked the buckles, the resounding sound echoing louder than it should in the wide secret base as Iwa-san slid the straitjacket off. Nagare’s powers were far more under control now and the straitjacket helped. Nagare could make slight movements although Iwa-san often worried at him doing so. But during times when Iwa-san had to remove the straitjacket such as during bath time, Iwa-san decided to use his Grey as a precaution in case…anything untoward happened. Removed from their restraints, Nagare’s arms flopped out to their sides, limp in the sleeves of the white shirt Iwa-san had made for Nagare to wear. Iwa-san felt a familiar pain in his chest, when he gazed at those thin arms that couldn’t move normally. But Nagare had turned his head to watch Iwa-san, so Iwa-san hastily smiled and reached around Nagare, holding Nagare’s hands in his.

“See Nagare, this is going to be veryyy simple. Just hold the stick first and dip it into the bucket, then just bring it to your mouth and blow air into it.” As he spoke Iwa-san guided Nagare’s hands, which were much smaller in his own, over to the bucket, dipping the straw in. While doing so, Iwa-san made sure he held Nagare’s fingers tightly so the straw wouldn’t slip out through Nagare’s ones. Once done Iwa-san lifted Nagare’s hands, helping it to Nagare’s mouth so he could hold the straw before releasing them. When it was in his mouth, Nagare took in a deep breath around the straw and blew on it, causing an oblong-shaped bubble to appear on the other side. Nagare’s eyes widened and he continued to huff away into the straw until a decent sized bubble formed. The bubble eventually detached itself from the straw, floating in the air as it steadily went upwards. Nagare’s eyes grew even huger as he watched the bubble float away, reflecting the lights of the secret base. Kotosaka perched on the sofa was similarly watching the bubble. Iwa-san smiled proudly as he leaned back, watching Nagare. Nagare doing normal kid stuff felt right.

“Iwa-san. Again. Hurry.”

Making a feigned groan at Nagare’s authoritative command, Iwa-san obeyed, redoing his steps so Nagare could once again see a bubble. And again. He couldn’t do many at a time given the circumstances, but Nagare seemed content to watch each bubble rise higher and float off into the depths of the secret base, or otherwise get popped when they hit the sides of the walls.

“Are you having fun Nagare?” Iwa-san asked, breaking the silence around the tenth bubble or so.

“Affirmative.” Nagare replied, as he watched the current bubble float off near the sofa where Kotosaka was perched before it popped.

“That’s good. You know, Iwa-san did this a long time ago when I was a kid like you. Younger though. It must seem like a really long time ago to you, you weren’t even born then!” Iwa-san jokingly said.

Nagare smiled, but gave no comment.

“Yeah…I remember it. I might have had a photo of it somewhere! It was at some kid’s party in the neighbourhood my family brought me to. The kid’s mother had put in cranberry juice in the soap mixture they gave us, so the bubbles everyone blew were dyed red…” _Red_. Iwa-san’s voice trailed off as he thought. That was so long ago. Before he became a King, before he continued Cathedral’s work, before Kagatsu’s Sword had…

“Iwa-san?” Nagare was watching him once more, saying something but Iwa-san felt far away and couldn’t hear him.

Until a loud screech broke Iwa-san’s reverie. “Iwa-san! Nagare! Try! I try!” Kotosaka was squawking at the top of his voice from being ignored. Iwa-san winced, Kotosaka’s squawks feeling like they could burst through his head.

“Wait Kotosaka-”

“Kotosaka-”

Neither Iwa-san nor Nagare had time to react as Kotosaka huffily spread his wings before launching into the air and speeding towards them, intending to land on the ridge of the bucket. However, Kotosaka misjudged it perhaps because of his frustration and rammed full speed into the side of the bucket, causing the bucket to tip over and the contents to splash out.

“Kotosaka!” Both Iwa-san’s and Nagare’s voice echoed in unison as they stared at the scene. Nagare made an odd twisting movement, as though he wanted to push himself closer to Kotosaka who was on the ground but he couldn’t.

Iwa-san bit back a curse as he swiftly dragged Nagare away to the non-soaked part of the tatami, hastily helping him put on the straitjacket, and went to Kotosaka who was dizzily standing up, his wings flopped out. Iwa-san made comforting sounds at Kotosaka as he held the bird. Luckily Kotosaka seemed without injuries, except for the outer parts of his wings which were soaked from the soap mixture.

 “Iwa-san! Is Kotosaka fine? Kotosaka!” Nagare’s voice called over from where he laid on the tatami, worried.

“Kotosaka’s head hurts…” Kotosaka talked, as Iwa-san brought him over to the sink. Iwa-san felt relieved Kotosaka felt well enough to speak, but he would wash Kotosaka’s wings thoroughly to get rid of the soap. As he did so, he scolded the bird who looked utterly depressed to try and put up a fight. Ten minutes later, the painful procedure was done and Iwa-san brought over Kotosaka to Nagare who had tensely pulled himself up and was sitting on the tatami. An aura of insult and injury surrounding the bedraggled bird making Iwa-san feel guilty. Nagare looked sad too for his clansman, as Kotosaka who resembled a round fluffy ball waddled onto Nagare’s lap, presumably too damp to fly to Nagare’s shoulder.

Surveying the two, Iwa-san sighed. He didn’t have the heart to scold Kotosaka further, who had only wanted to join him and Nagare in the activity. “Don’t make that face Kotosaka, Nagare. No lasting damage was done. To help Kotosaka recover faster, Iwa-san will make your favourite fried chicken for both of you later, okay?”

“...Thank you Iwa-san.” Nagare hesitantly said, his eyes still on his clansman. Fortunately, Kotosaka seemed to perk up at Iwa-san words. “Thank you. Thank you!” Kotosaka sounded on his way back to his normal self, which relieved Iwa-san.

Iwa-san grimaced as he looked around the shabby living room that made up most of their home. A large part of the tatami was soaked with the soap mixture from where Kotosaka had flew into it, with the resulting suds causing it to become slippery. Iwa-san scooped up Kotosaka, placing him onto Nagare’s shoulder bending down. Iwa-san made sure he was supporting Nagare’s slight body before he carefully got up, making a big arc around the wet tatami to head to Nagare’s wheelchair. Once he was beside it, he placed Nagare down onto the seat, making sure that Nagare’s position was comfortable before he was fixed in. This time last year Nagare’s feet had just about reached the footrest, but now they had to be adjusted a bit downwards so Nagare’s legs could stretch out comfortably. Nagare’s straitjacket had had to be lengthened too, something Iwa-san reminded himself to note for the future.

That was the proof. Day by day, Nagare was growing up.

 “I would like that, Iwa-san.” Nagare’s voice cut through Iwa-san’s thoughts as he got up to get the cleaning materials.

“Hmm?”

“I didn’t have a chance to reply earlier because of what happened to Kotosaka. I want Iwa-san to teach me how to make the coloured soap bubbles. Like you did in the past.” Nagare’s voice was decisive as the words left his mouth, but there was a slight downcast to his eyes, as though he was expecting for Iwa-san to reject his request.

“Huh…” Iwa-san made a face when he remembered that he still had to clean up the living room and then cook the fried chicken for the two brats. But it was fine. Really it was. It had been worth it to see Nagare act like the child he rightfully was, no matter how short the time was. Iwa-san chuckled and ruffled Nagare’s hair, causing Nagare to lose his doleful gaze and look up with wide blue eyes at Iwa-san.

“Whatever makes you happy, Nagare.” To reassure Nagare, Iwa-san gave a brilliant smile at Nagare.

Hearing Iwa-san say those words with such conviction, Nagare turned silent and his gaze slid away from Iwa-san. Iwa-san felt a twinge of worry, had he done something wrong? Before Iwa-san could think of something else or retract his words, Nagare tilted his head to gaze at Iwa-san once more.

“Thank you Iwa-san.” Nagare’s voice was softer now, his eyes honestly looking at Iwa-san.

Iwa san couldn’t resist. He went behind Nagare, leaning on Nagare’s chair handles and using both his hands he began ruffling Nagare’s hair up. “See Nagare, there’s your childish side poking out! Iwa-san knew you had it tucked away.”

With Iwa-san behind him, fussing with his hair and being unable to see his facial expression, Nagare deemed it safe to pout. “I am not a child Iwa-san.”

“Only a child would say that!” To Nagare’s bewilderment, Iwa-san continued laughing.


End file.
